Monday, April 23, 2012

Scientists look at
rice as a crop for research, while farmers look at it as a component in an
agricultural system which can provide food and livelihood to their families.

A project supported
by the European Union entitled “Realizing the agricultural potential of inland
valley lowlands in sub-Saharan Africa while maintaining their environmental
services (RAP)” has achieved initial success in bridging this divide.

“We are bridging this
scientist–farmer divide through multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs),” says Dr
Joel Huat, coordinator for the RAP project. “Through these platforms we bring
together all stakeholders from the rice-growing systems.”

The RAP project focuses on an
innovation-systems approach to research. It involves a paradigm shift from the
technological package approach to an integrated agricultural research approach.
It aims at ensuring that researchers work together with smallholder farmers, pastoralists,
extension agencies, the private sector and NGOs to achieve impact on the
ground.

It is based on the understanding
that the research and development challenges in the inland-valley lowlands are
complex and diverse and cannot be handled by individuals or organizations
working alone. These challenges call for integrated, collective and concerted action
that includes multiple institutions, conducive policy framework and
cost-effective technological options for sustainable production, processing and
marketing.

During the first phase of the RAP
project, MSPs were established at Dogbo in Couffo department and Houinga in
Mono department in Benin, and at Doumanaba and Bamadougou in Sikasso region of
Mali. These MSPs have the legal status of non-profit organizations and have
been able to attract the attention of local leaders. For instance, the mayor of
Doumanaba was a participant in the process of establishing the MSP there.

The MSPs facilitated activities
aimed at increasing rice production, such as rice seed production in farmers’
fields in Benin; testing of NERICA-L 20 in Benin and Mali; and training on
technical practices provided by the agricultural extension service. The RAP
project works to increase rice production in the inland valleys, which are
lowlands with high potential to increase rice production. In Benin, only 4% of
the area of the inland valleys is used for cultivation, and in Mali only 10% of
the area is used.

According to Huat, the focus is
also on rice-based cropping systems to increase diversity and income for the
farmers. “In this project, we focus on rice-based cropping system and not on
rice alone. We have been encouraging the growing of vegetables along with rice so
that the economic returns for the farmers are more. Vegetables can be grown
during the off-season when there is insufficient water for rice cultivation.”

In Benin, the rice-vegetable
cropping systems consist of growing leafy vegetables with rice in a production cycle.
The yield of vegetable crops in rotation with rice is still low, but is moving
toward a substantial productivity increase. In addition to the leafy
vegetables, okra and pepper are also grown. At Bamadougou, the rice crop is
rotated with potato, sweet potato or other vegetables.

The rice-aquaculture combination
was also tried out as part of the RAP project in Benin. There is potential for
much improvement in this system. The third unique feature of the RAP project
has been the focus on a value-chain approach. “We found it very important to
identify the bottlenecks from the production to the market and find ways to
resolve them,” says Huat.

Working with the producers,
traders, consumers and processors, the project identified the constraints and
opportunities in the rice-vegetable value chains in inland valleys. The main
constraints were the unavailability of good-quality rice seed; postharvest losses;
poor storage methods for vegetables; high price of seeds and fertilizers;
inadequate markets for local rice; poor access to credit; and lack of rice
processing equipment.

The opportunity in the lowlands
in Benin was the availability of water throughout the year, allowing for off-season
production of rice combined with other high-value crops and fish. Since 90% of
the farmers in these areas have access to mobile phones and radios, there is
immense potential for building a communication network through this
infrastructure.

During
the first phase, the project partners were the Institut national des recherches
agricoles du Bénin (INRAB), Institut d’économie rurale (IER) in Mali, the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Wageningen University
and Research Center (WUR) in the Netherlands, the International Center for
Development Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) in the Netherlands and
France, and the Centre de coopération international en recherche agronomique
pour le développement (CIRAD) in France.

Project
partners realize that it is important to document this knowledge in scientific
publications and produce tools that will facilitate decision-making, for
example through videos, agro-socio-economic and geo-referenced databases on
inland valleys, in partnership with development actors.

A 54-min video on the Multi-stakeholder Platforms and Processes (MSP) in inland valleys is produced by Moov-on for AfricaRice and its partners. Given below is a 5-min preview of this video.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

The once-powerful kingdom of
Dahomey and more recently one of Africa's largest cotton producers, Benin is
today one of the continent’s strongest democracies.

Thanks to its democratic values,
peace and stability, the country’s international stature has continued to grow.
In January 2012, Benin President Yayi Boni was elected Chairperson of the
African Union.

Since Benin’s economy is mainly
based on agriculture and the government has accorded an important place to agriculture
and food security, it is not surprising that three international agricultural
research Centers of the CGIAR Consortium are represented in the country.

The three Centers comprise the
Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) and Bioversity International (Bioversity). AfricaRice’s
temporary headquarters operates from a research station near Cotonou – Benin’s
economic capital – which also serves as the outreach location for IITA and
Bioversity.

As Benin is one of the 24 member
countries of AfricaRice, which has a special status as an intergovernmental
pan-African research organization, the bonds between the two are particularly
strong.

Spanning over a quarter century,
this partnership has grown significantly as rice has become critical for food
security in the country, particularly in the urban areas.

The situation is similar in other
African countries as rice is today the single most important source of dietary
energy in West Africa and the third most important for sub-Saharan Africa as a
whole.

Rice consumption in the continent
is growing faster than that of any other major staple. In Benin, for example,
it is estimated that the total rice consumption grew at 17% between 2001 and
2010, while production grew at only 12.3% over the same period. To keep pace
with the demand, Benin resorts to heavy imports; this makes it highly
vulnerable to international market shocks.

However, over the last few years,
with the technical support of AfricaRice, Benin has put in place policies and
strategies to support the domestic rice sector. As a result, rice production in
the country increased by 36% between 2007 and 2008 and a national rice
development strategy has been successfully developed.

AfricaRice carries out several
joint projects in close association with the Benin national program – Institut
national des recherches agricoles du Bénin (INRAB) – focusing on priority areas
identified by the country.

This collaborative work has
delivered sizable benefits for Benin and the region as a whole, such as
productive varieties like upland and lowland NERICAs; improved natural resource
management options; efficient post-harvest technologies; and a wide array of
participatory methods, innovation systems and learning tools, such as rice
learning videos that facilitate technology adoption.

The Center has contributed
importantly to strengthening the rice research and development capacity of its
Beninese partners both through fellowships and group training of actors across
the value chain.

“The partnership between Benin and AfricaRice
continues to be very pro-active and productive. In addition, there is strong
political will at the highest level of the country to support the rice R&D
sector,” said AfricaRice Director General Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck.

AfricaRice headquarters is based in Côte d’Ivoire. Staff are located in Côte d’Ivoire and also in AfricaRice Research Stations in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org